The Fight Game
by Mesara
Summary: The Kaede residents marvel at the new Elfen Lied Fight Game. That is, until it formed a hostile rift between Nana and Lucy. Followup fic in progress!
1. Suspicion

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_This one's my first Elfen Lied fanfiction ever written. More is to come. Enjoy._

Suspicion

"What's with Kouta?" wondered Yuka as she scrubbed a persistent spot on one of the plates she was washing. She had begun to notice that for the past two days, her cousin would dash out of his room as if it was a dire emergency to go and check outside the front door. Afterwards, he'd sprint back the same way he came and with a look of disappointment on his face. Yuka had that gut feeling that something was up with Kouta. He was hiding something. That, or maybe he was possibly trying to repress traumatic memories. How could the latter be though? He had made peace with Lucy long ago and she did the same with him. And she had returned to the Kaede Inn after having both her horns barely shot off. Since then, life has been smooth sailing for everyone: for her, Kouta, Lucy, Nyuu, Nana, and Mayu.

"Well, simple process of elimination crosses out the possibility of traumatic repression", Yuka coolly told herself. That left the last option: Kouta's possible covering up. What could he be possibly-?

Her state of deep thought was momentarily disrupted when Nana and Mayu returned home from their high school classes. Both were greeted by Wanta's excited, high-pitched barks.

"Welcome back", Yuka called out from the kitchen.

"I'm home!" both of the girls called back in response.

"Where's Lucy?"

"Oh, she's still outside getting some fresh air", Mayu explained.

The two dropped their backpacks and entered the kitchen to see what was for dinner. To their disappointment, Yuka had not yet prepared anything, much less a small snack.

"Still washing the dishes?" Mayu asked.

"Ugghhhmmmmm…I'm hungry! What's for dinner?" Nana childishly moaned as she clutched her stomach.

"Yes, Mayu, I'm still washing the dishes, but don't worry, I have only one plate left", Yuka answered as she continued to try to get the painstakingly tough spot off the same plate.

"Nana, come on, you can't be that hungry! It's only been two hours since you had lunch!" Mayu teased.

"I know", Nana responded with a downtrodden look on her face, "but I told you that breakfast was my largest meal and that I eat a light lunch! Uggggghhhhhhhmmmmm…so…hungry…"

Yuka finally put away the plate and turned around.

"Who's up for miso soup?" she asked.

Upon hearing this, Nana beamed up. Mayu smiled with satisfaction.

"Yay! _Arigato_!" Nana cheered.

"You're not cooking a meal today?" Mayu asked in curiosity.

"Well, I could, but Kouta has been spending a lot of time supposedly studying in his room and leaving me to do most of the dirty work", Yuka wearily said, "I'm so dogged tired already."

"Can I help you cook then?" Mayu offered. "I have very little schoolwork to do."

"Okay then, thanks", Yuka gladly accepted, "You could start by getting the soy sauce."

"Well, in that case, Nana is off to take a bath", Nana stated as she hustled out of the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't!" Yuka countered. "That trick is way overdone on me. If Mayu volunteers to help, then you help too."

"But-"

"Help. Now. Set the table."

Nana lowered her head in disappointment and went to get the utensils.

Yuka got back to kitchen work and into trying to figure out what Kouta was hiding.

"He couldn't be secretly seeing someone, could he?" she pondered.

Then her suspicion meter kicked up a notch for a short moment.

"He could be seeing a girl! Just like Nyuu-chan!" she speculated, "could it be that Kouta-kun finally got himself a girlfriend despite his social ineptitude? But then again, he's not really the lady's man so I'm ruling that out. Not to mention, he's surrounded by four of them. Speaking of…Of all the people to like, Nyuu!? Why can't it be me!? That's-".

"AAAAAH!"

She was jolted by the scream and spun around. Nana was cradling her thumb in pain.

"What now?" Yuka annoyingly wondered.

"I slammed the utensil cabinet on my thumb!" Nana whined. "Owww!"

"Still having trouble doing chores?" Yuka asked. "Just like before?"

Nana nodded slightly without looking up.

"Well, be more careful next time and less haphazard", Mayu advised, "Besides, it's just-".

"Hey wait a minute!" Yuka interrupted. "You don't feel pain! Don't you wear prosthetic limbs? Nice try, kiddo. I've got to give you credit, you're getting smarter."

Nana looked up and smiled before resuming her part in the kitchen work along with Mayu. Pain and injury was usually a good enough reason for Yuka to let her off her chores.

"Damn interruptions!" Yuka thought in further annoyance. "That better has been the last one."

Yuka got back to pondering about what Kouta was up to as she stirred the soup. By the time it was finished boiling, she gave up.

"_Baka_, what are you up to?" she seethed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kouta stealthily open the front door.

"What are you doing?" Yuka asked. "You've been doing that for two-"

"NYUU!"

Nyuu suddenly popped out in front of Kouta. Kouta immediately fell flat on his back.

"Nyuu-chan!" he reprimanded. "Don't scare me like that! Didn't I already tell you? I'm looking out for it in the mail."

"_Gomen nasai_", Nyuu apologized. "Kouta, play computer. Kouta, want play computer."

"Okay Nyuu".

"But Kouta-kun-", Yuka started up.

"Sorry Yuka-chan, but if I don't turn on the computer for her, she'll begin complaining again", Kouta cut her off. "Don't worry, I'll come for dinner."

Yuka breathed an exasperated sigh for a moment. She headed back to the kitchen, dinner would provide her an opportunity to talk with him and find out what he had hidden in the back of his mind…

_Well, that's the introduction. What, indeed, is Kouta hiding? Find out in the next chapter: A Game?. R&R please! Many other Elfen Lied fanfictions are on the way! _


	2. A Game?

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_For anyone wondering, yes, there really is an Elfen Lied Fight Game. Just look up Elfen Lied Fight Game on your search engine. Enjoy._

A Game?

In a short while, dinner was finally ready. The table was neatly set. The food was laid out in the usual orderly fashion, from soup to fish. Not to mention, the Kaede residents were together again, ready to begin their meal and chat about how the long, ravishing day was and whatever concern was to be brought up.

"So, uh, how did you think you did on that Chemistry test of yours?" Mayu asked Lucy.

Lucy shuddered and bit her lip in humiliation before looking back at Mayu.

"Why do you ask?" Lucy questioned. "You're three grades below me."

"Oh, I'm just wondering, you seemed stressed out to study for it the last night", Mayu answered.

Lucy lowered her head in further shame.

"Absolutely horrible", she retorted. "My idiot side Nyuu popped in out of nowhere as soon as they passed out the exams. It's no doubt that I failed it to the infinite degree!"

"Well, according to laws of chance, if Nyuu was randomly guessing, then you should have gotten at least a fifth of the test right", Nana calculated with a smile. "Come on, look on the bright side! At least it's better than getting a complete zero, right?"

"What bright side? I did get a complete zero!" Lucy irritably countered. "The whole thing was an essay test! Who said that there's any random guessing there!? All that Nyuu did was draw a smiley face for every question!"

"Oh, sorry", Nana apologized through her chuckles while Mayu giggled quietly on the sidelines.

Yuka paid no attention to the conversation at the other side of the table. She was busy staring at Kouta for the past five minutes. He still had that look on his face. That look of contemplation. He still looked silent. Either way, now was a good time for Yuka to figure out what he was doing running back and forth, checking the outside of the front door every afternoon.

"Okay Kouta-kun", she started off, "You've been scaring me with that attitude of yours for the past few days. You are not yourself. I would have come and talked to you sooner, but you're always locked up in your room. And I know that studying doesn't usually work you up this much Come on, what's up?"

Kouta snapped out of his silence.

"What are you talking about?" he confrontationally asked, obviously trying to fool her. "I'm just studying!"

"Don't you play dumb with me!" Yuka shouted. "Either you tell me what the hell you're doing or you aren't leaving this table alive!"

The whole table fell silent at that instant. The three girls on the other side turned their heads over to see what the ruckus was about. Thinking of a tactful way to get them out of her discussion with Kouta, she eyeballed their plates. Thankfully they were empty. Looks like they were done with dinner.

"Mayu, Nana, you two go and take a bath, but I want you both in bed soon afterwards", she ordered.

"Okay!" Nana beamed enthusiastically as she headed off with Mayu.

"And Lucy-san, you stay here", Yuka added.

"What? Why?" Lucy asked.

"I might need you. Questions."

Now it was just the three of them: Kouta, Lucy, and Yuka. The "interrogation" was about to begin.

"I ask you again, what's going on?" Yuka demanded.

"I'm just expecting something urgent in the mail!" Kouta finally spilled out. "It's my own personal business. You got a problem with that?"

"Yeah, I want to know exactly what. I'm still not convinced that all you're doing is schoolwork."

Yuka then turned to Lucy.

"Lucy-san, can you recall anything in Nyuu's perspective involving him over the past few days?

"Some minor details, here and there. Other parts of it are hazy." Lucy described.

"Tell me what you remember."

"I think Nyuu has been taking interest in Kouta's computer after he started getting hooked on gaming, so she's always hanging around there with him. And I faintly recall that they were surfing the Internet together. Then I saw Kouta find that some new game had come out and he ordered it online. That's all I can remember before reverting back to my usual self that day."

Kouta's face immediately turned into a look of fear after Lucy had finished telling Yuka everything. Busted.

"So…this was what you were doing this whole time…" Yuka hissed as she shook uncontrollably in repressed anger. "A game? A GAME!? I've had to do your share of the household work along with mine! I lost sleep over thinking what you were up to! You've been neglecting your studies all along haven't you?! Gaming?! Since when?! That's worse that you and Nyuu being perverted with each other!"

Lucy blushed at hearing this. Kouta quickly looked at her and gave the "get out of here quickly" look. She nodded and exited the room with haste.

"Yuka, you don't understand!"

"Don't understand what!?"

"First of all, I never neglected my studies! Second, it's very important!" Kouta explained. "I was intending for it to be a surprise. Now that you know early, you have to stay quiet about it until tomorrow afternoon when the game is guaranteed to come in, okay? Please? Everything will clear up by then."

Yuka settled down. She was finally convinced of his honesty.

"Okay then." She said. "Be sure to show it to me and the others when you do get it."

Kouta smiled. Yuka smiled back at him.

"But you have to clear the table and do the dishes for tonight", she ordered. "I'm going to take a bath now."

"Wait!" Kouta called after her. "Aren't you staying to help?"

She stood in the doorway for a moment before stepping out.

"No, that's for screwing me over on chores for the past couple of days."

Kouta let out a deep sigh and picked up the plates…

**The next afternoon…**

"At last!" Kouta cried out as he came running back inside the inn. "The one thing that I've been looking forward to for three days in a row: _The Elfen Lied Fight Game!_

"Come again!?" asked Yuka in disbelief.

Everyone's attention within the inn was caught at that instant and they all came into Kouta's room to see what was up.

"An Elfen Lied Fight Game?" asked Mayu. "That's the most unique thing that I've heard to be made for our series!"

"Exactly the reason why I got it!" Kouta answered as he popped the disc into his computer.

"I still can't believe the concept! A fight game?" Yuka now asked confusedly.

"Yes, Yuka-chan, it's a beat 'em up style of a game involving some characters from our series, Elfen Lied", Kouta explained.

After a few minutes of file unzipping and installing, the game was finally ready.

The group of four crowded around Kouta and marveled as he started up the versus mode.

"Yay! I'm in it!" Nana exclaimed. "Not to mention I'm wearing a cool grey outfit with a baseball cap!"

"I'm in it too!" Mayu added.

"Whoa, am I that popular that they made me into three different characters?" Lucy asked as she poured over the choices of Lucy, young Lucy, or Nyuu.

"What!?" Yuka interjected in shock. "I'm not in it? What gives!?"

"Don't feel bad Yuka-chan, I'm not in it too", Kouta said. "But there's also Mariko, Mariko's clone, Anna, and Misaki. Anyway, who's up against me? Come on!"

And so the games began…

_Thus Chapter 2 ends. I've got a lot of spare time so expect the next chapter to come in very soon. If this fanfic still sucks, don't worry, better ones still on the way. Still waiting for constructive criticism so, if possible, review. Next chapter, The Games Begin._


	3. The Games Begin

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_After the game arrives in the mail and Yuka's suspicion subsides, the rest of the household members crowd around Kouta's computer, waiting in awe. Thus, the games begin._

The Games Begin

"Anyway, who's up against me?" Kouta challenged. "Come on!"

Nana was still new to computers. However, the mere thought of her character kicking everyone's butt in the dueling style tempted her to try her hand at the game. Not to mention, she loved winning. At all costs. Even in small games like tic-tac-toe, she was notoriously known to be a sore loser. So try her hand, why not?

"I'll give it a shot", she stated as she walked up to the keyboard. "So, how do I do this?

"First, you have to configure your controls", Kouta told.

"And how do I do that?"

Kouta let out a small, exasperated sigh.

"That's right, despite the few months that I've known her, she asks too many questions", he briefly recalled in his mind. "She still hasn't mentioned anything about her past yet."

"Kouta-san?" Nana interrupted after catching his facial expression.

The others were also looking in his direction, wondering what was up.

"Oh, it's nothing", he explained. "Anyway, just press the keys that you want to use after you click the function for it first. For example, click this one, the VECTOR ATTACK option. When it shows a question mark, press your key of choice."

"Hmmmmm. I'll use the 0 key then!" Nana said as she pressed that button.

"Good, now do it for your other functions."

Kouta selected Mariko's clone. It was the most interesting one to him. At least, out of the entire set.

"Damn, why couldn't whoever made this add a male character in there?" he disappointingly thought. "Ack, never mind. More fun for the others, I guess"

After finally getting down the last of the functions, the Kaede residents were ready to witness the start of the digital duel.

"Let's go!" Mayu cheered as the versus screen loaded.

**Round 1! Fight!**

At said cue, Nana slammed down her VECTOR ATTACK key. Missed. Kouta wheeled his character around and hit Nana's from behind using his own VECTOR ATTACK with relative ease.

"Damage! Oh yeah!" he triumphantly exclaimed while Yuka cheered him on.

"C'mon Nana! Fight back harder!" Mayu encouraged.

Nana furrowed her brow.

"I…must…win!" she subconsciously said. "Nana must prove herself!"

Kouta's character, Mariko's clone, jumped in midair. With quick reflexes, Nana made her character jump into the air as well and launched a VECTOR TORNADO attack. Dead on. In three seconds of fury, she had taken a chunk of health out of his character.

"Take that!-"

Kouta cut her off in mid-sentence. Taking advantage of her cocky self-made distraction, he launched a twenty hit VECTOR ATTACK combo on Nana. Now the score was a little more even.

"Is that all you got!?" Nana growled as she threw a ROCKET PUNCH at his character.

"Not even close", Kouta answered coolly as he blocked the attack.

"Wow, even against that puny little girl, you're still a weakling in comparison", Lucy commented on the sidelines just loud enough for Nana to hear.

Nana tried to pay no attention to the comment as she dodged another attack from Kouta. There had to be a way to beat Mariko's clone! In real life, she remembered how she lost every single fight against other diclonii, be it Lucy, or the one time encounter with Mariko.

"No, Nana will not relive those defeats! Nana must prove herself!" she angrily thought.

Well, then again, it was just a game. A simple, little fight game, right? Nana pulled her thoughts together and strategized.

"Hmmmmm…I notice that he waits for me to attack first before countering", she further thought as she hit the movement keys to dodge another VECTOR ATTACK. "Then, he attacks me while I'm open…guess I'll have to fight strategy with strategy!"

Nana moved her character to the other side of the screen and waited.

"What the-what are you doing?" Mayu asked, completely bewildered.

"What's wrong?" Lucy taunted from behind. "Can't take the pain?"

"Shut up", Nana thought as she still waited.

"That's odd", Kouta thought in his own mind. "She's running. What are you up to?"

Playing it safe, Kouta moved Mariko's clone to the opposite side of the screen and waited as well.

"Gotcha!" Nana loudly whispered.

Immediately, she threw a ROCKET PUNCH across the screen, resulting in Kouta's character temporarily flinching. Now was her chance. She used her VECTOR DISABLE attack to prevent him from using any more vector attacks for the time being. Pressing the jump key and finishing off the combo with a VECTOR ATTACK, Nana defeated Mariko's clone with only a small portion of health remaining in her own bar.

"Woohoo! I won!" she cheered along with Mayu. "Yay!"

"Great job! That was a nice strategy!" Mayu complimented as she hugged Nana from behind.

Kouta smiled. He didn't mind losing as long as it made her happy.

"Congratulations!" he said to her right before Yuka gave him a small whack on the back of the head.

"Ow!" he grunted.

"_Baka,_ you let a little girl beat you?" she playfully teased.

"I'll say", Lucy added as she slightly chuckled with Yuka.

Yuka looked up at the clock. It was already 5:15 in the evening. She had lost track of the time and still needed to cook dinner.

"Kouta-kun, I need to prepare dinner", she told him. "It's 5:15 and you have to come and help me."

"But-"

"Now", she sternly demanded as she dragged him by the ear to the kitchen. "You still have a large chore debt to pay off."

It was now just Lucy, Mayu, and Nana. The three of them were by themselves, with the fight game staring directly at them. Or vice- versa.

"I'm next!" Mayu said as she selected her own character.

"Likewise" Lucy stated, choosing young Lucy.

Mayu checked out her weapon arsenal. It wasn't too spectacular. Not to mention the blocking move that used Wanta as a shield sickened her. Lucy looked over her attacks as well.

"Nice." She thought.

After key configuring, Mayu loaded the versus screen while Nana watched with a fixed stare.

**Round 2! Fight!**

Lucy made her character charge toward Mayu's. Mayu in response threw out a KICK, catching young Lucy square in the face. Due to the said character's small physical strength, a large fraction on health was deducted instantaneously. Mayu followed up with DOG ATTACK, sending Wanta to sick on young Lucy. Despite the significant damage to the health bar. Lucy's character's eyes glowed red for a second.

"Yes, keep pummeling!" Lucy fiercely encouraged Mayu.

Mayu gave a partially scared look. She turned to Nana, who in turn, shrugged her shoulders.

Not knowing what else to do, Mayu threw out PUNCH while young Lucy idly waited. At that instant, a dark aura surrounded young Lucy and threw Mayu back, dealing small damage.

"Ha, that's it!?" Mayu laughed as she got ready to launch another offensive.

Then four vectors swarmed out and furiously pounded Mayu's character. Mayu tried to block them, but their striking speed suddenly increased and launched a fifty hit combo. Mayu was quickly finished off.

She took the defeat very calmly and checked the time: 5:23.

"Well, that was fun, but I have homework to do", Mayu said as she got up to leave.

A few seconds of silence emerged between Lucy and Nana in the few moments after Mayu left. Then Round 3 was next.

"You and me, let's go!" Nana challenged.

"You're on, weakling", Lucy accepted with complete confidence…

_Nana is fully pumped, ready to win and show her strength as a diclonius. Lucy does the same. However, it is all just a game. Anyway, still got spare time, still typing. Expect next chapter quickly. What happens next? Come see next chapter: From Game to Reality. R&R!_


	4. From Game to Reality

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_Nana and Lucy are now the only ones in front of the fight game: the game that will place them against each other. But will the seemingly harmless rivalry that Nana has pitted against Lucy go any further? Read on, and enjoy._

From Game to Reality

"You and me, let's go!" Nana challenged.

"You're on, weakling", Lucy accepted with complete confidence.

Nana once again selected her own character. Lucy did the same for hers. The character control configuration was still the same as for young Lucy, so the versus mode was immediately starting to load. As the game was still loading, Lucy sensed that something was wrong with Nana. Was it something she said? Maybe she took one of her past comments a bit too seriously. In the past she could usually care less about her fellow diclonius; however, this time, she felt the need to speak up. After all, Nana was a relative whom she had managed to peacefully coexist with since last week. Come to think of it, she seemed to be like a little sister to her.

"Nana, you and I need to talk", Lucy started off.

"About what?" Nana asked.

"Well, about how you're acting right-"

"Fight first, talk later!" Nana hastily answered back. "The game is ready!"

Lucy glanced at the computer monitor: the versus mode was already loaded. She rolled her eyes. Guess the chat would have to wait. For now at least.

**Round 1! Fight!**

Lucy immediately blocked Nana's first offensive, ROCKET PUNCH. She immediately charged her own character at Nana's and used a swift VECTOR ATTACK as a counterattack. Nana's character was knocked back, moderately damaged. Nana; however, remained unfazed. She kept a serious, albeit hostile expression on her face as she reattached the thrown limb with a free vector. Now it's her turn. Nana pressed the movement keys and jumped into midair before throwing two more ROCKET PUNCH attacks. Lucy once again blocked the first one, but was hit by the second. Her character partially stunned, she saw that Nana had left herself open to another to another attack. Lucy slammed down the VECTOR SLICE key and took off Nana's left leg before said character had a chance to reattach her other limbs. Nana immediately fell, unable to attack Lucy's character.

"Look familiar?" Lucy asked Nana jokingly.

Wrong move. Nana wasn't in the mood for more reminders of her failures. Her hands curled into fists and shook.

"THAT'S IT! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!" she screamed as she yanked the keyboard and threw it to the other side of the room.

Lucy was absolutely flabbergasted. She had never seen her fellow diclonius snap like that. Even in their first encounter at the graveyard, Nana always maintained an air of calmness and empathy. Apparently, her light-hearted, but teasing comments, had offended Nana and pushed her over the edge.

"Nana, I-" she tried to say.

"You think I'm weak!?", Nana yelled in a vicious tirade. "A worthless subordinate!? You just had to keep pushing it didn't you!?

"Look, Nana I'm-"

"Taking off all four of my limbs wasn't enough for you!?"

Mayu had heard the ruckus and the deafening crash of the keyboard and tried to calm Nana down.

"Um, Nana, what's going on?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Nana turned in her direction and pointed an accusing finger.

"And you, damn you, Mayu-chan!" she further condemned. "Had it not been for you getting in my way, I would have won against Lucy and made Papa proud of me! You cost me my fingers and left leg!"

Mayu immediately recoiled and cowered in fear.

"Leave Mayu out of this!" Lucy defended her.

Now Kouta and Yuka started to hear the argument escalate and decided to come over and see what was going on while Nana continued to verbally vent on Lucy.

"How could Kouta-san take in a sadistic hell spawn like you!?"

Lucy instantly reached her wit's end. She was obviously struggling to try to be civil.

"What!?" Lucy yelled after being insulted, "Who are you calling a sadistic hell spawn!? First of all, I'm not that person anymore. Second, society made me that way!"

Just as the two were about to come to blows, Kouta intervened.

"Enough!" He said as he wedged himself between the girls. "What is going on? If this is about the hostilities that you both have held against each other in the past, this isn't the way to solve it! Name-calling and empty insults aren't going to get you two anywhere!"

There was a brief pause among the whole group.

"Hmmmmm…Kouta-san does bring up a good point", Nana thoughtfully said.

"Yeah, he does", Lucy agree, seeing that the tirade was brought to an end.

"We're going to have to solve this honorably."

Kouta smiled. He had defused a potentially dangerous, ticking time bomb. Or so he thought.

"I'm going to follow through with what you said before, Lucy-san".

"What was that, Nana?" Lucy asked.

"When I first showed up at this place and you later reverted back to your usual self, you asked me if I came back for a rematch", Nana reminded her. "Well, I want a rematch."

"What!?" everyone else yelled in unison.

Lucy was once again stunned. Nana was challenging her! Had the peaceful coexistence between them ended? Had she gone mad? Literally? It wasn't the fact that Lucy was scared of her, or of getting seriously hurt. It was because she had promised herself never to raise vector against humans or diclonii alike. Like her fellow diclonius, she had made several horrible memories before, and recreating them was the last thing on her mind.

"You heard me", Nana further beckoned. "Fight me. Tomorrow at dusk, at the same graveyard that we fought at before. I don't want to kill you, I just want a simple rematch."

Yuka was also shocked upon hearing this. Even more so than Lucy.

"Nana, what do you think you're doing! This is-"

Lucy held out her arm, motioning Yuka to stop. Deep in her mind, she knew that she had to follow through with this challenge to fight. After all, there would be no killing, limb tearing, or other lethal forms of attacks, if she heard Nana right. Besides, she had to teach her a lesson.

"Fine", she accepted. "Tomorrow at dusk it is. Keep in mind; however, I also don't want to kill you. I just can't. But teaching you a lesson, I can do that."

"We'll see about that". Nana scoffed, as she got ready to walk off.

"Nana, stop!" Kouta called as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Nana angrily swiped it off and ran back upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her. Mayu tried to run after her but gave up at the foot of the stairs.

"Should I go talk to her?" Kouta asked turning to Yuka.

"I wouldn't, Kouta-kun", Yuka responded. "Let her cool off. Maybe she'll sleep if off. Anyway, dinner is ready. So I'm going back to the kitchen."

Kouta looked down and sighed.

"And Nyuu?" he asked turning in Lucy's direction.

But Lucy had disappeared. Mayu was still there though, trying to make sense of what just happened.

"Yuka-chan, may I at least ask Nana if she wants dinner?" she asked.

"Okay then, I guess you could try", Yuka answered with reluctance.

Mayu headed upstairs and went to Nana's room. She hesitated for about a minute before gathering enough courage to knock on the door.

"What do you want?" Nana grumpily asked through the door.

"Umm, dinner is ready, do you want some?" Mayu offered.

"No, I'm not hungry."

"But-"

"Leave me alone!"

Mayu backed away and quickly ran back downstairs. Kouta also tried to call Lucy, but got the same response. Looks like only three people would be eating tonight.

In Nana's room… 

"Geez, what do I do?" she asked herself. "Papa, what do I do? I failed to make you proud and I hope that I can make it up to you this time. The only problem is, what if I lose? What if I face another shameful defeat? Oh, papa, I don't even know where your gravestone is! Who can I turn to for help!? I know that the others are probably siding with Lucy. Who do I know around this area that can help me-?"

She cut herself off at mid-sentence and remembered Bando. She also remembered that he still resides on the nearby beach.

"That's it! Maybe that man can give me some advice."

Nana glanced at the clock: 6:49. If she left now she would be able to get there in about fifteen minutes and hopefully be back before 8:00, when nightfall hits.

She quickly slapped on some cargo pants, a t-shirt, and her purple necktie hair ribbon before getting ready to sneak out the window. Looks like the real fight game was about the appear on the horizon…

_Well then, this chapter really exhausted me! So anyway, the fight game and Lucy's teasing comments causes Nana to lose her temper and challenge Lucy to a rematch fight. What guidance could Bando possibly give Nana? And how will the Kaede residents cope with this rift? Next chapter: Preparation. Anyway, please send in a review. Tell me if there's anything I could improve on. Or just give me a suggestion. See you next time._


	5. Preparation

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_Nana challenged Lucy to an actual fight in the same graveyard that they last fought at. It's scheduled for dusk the next day. Reason why? Nana loses her temper after being reminded of her failures by Lucy's insensitive phrases. Now Nana heads for the beach, seeking Bando for guidance. What will she get in return? Read on._

Preparation

Nana was just about ready to take to the window when a worst-case scenario ran through her head.

"What if I don't make it back before nightfall and Yuka finds out about my absence?" she asked herself. "Not to mention, I have homework to do!"

Yuka, the "mother" of the household, always checked on her and Mayu at nightfall to make sure that both was getting ready for bed. Nana glanced again at the clock: 6:54. She had already wasted five minutes just thinking about escaping. Then another bright idea ran through her mind.

Nana immediately ran to her chair and jammed it sideways into the sliding door in order to prevent it from being opened. Then she flicked off the lights. Using the cover of darkness, she would escape out the window.

Getting it open was no trouble, but going down posed a little problem. The slanted roof was wide and made of loose ceramic tiles. The wide length prevented her from jumping to the soft grass below, whether she used her legs, or vectors to do so. If any of the ceramic roof tiles fell off the structure and shattered, that would raise an audible alarm. The height of the building didn't worry Nana; her vectors could easily cushion the fall without injury.

"Hmmmm, there's a small wooden ledge on the edge, just before the tiles", Nana strategized. "I can creep along it until I find an opportunity to jump."

She slid along the edge of the two-story wall, using the wooden ledge as her only foothold. Looking to her right, she saw a way down: there was a gap in the roof tiles. She hurried on, but in doing so, knocked a tile loose. It began to slide down to the ground, threatening to betray her position. Using a vector, she grabbed it and threw it onto the grass.

"Whew, got to be more careful than that!" she said after breathing a sigh of relief.

After arriving at the gap in the tiles, another obstacle emerged. The light from the front door lamps of the Kaede Inn was illuminating the concrete pathway on the ground. If she were to drop down there, the light would give her away. If she used her vectors to jump and land on an area of the pathway that wasn't lighted, a hand impression would be stamped onto the concrete. The last thing needed was evidence of her departure. Nana glanced even farther up the twenty-foot pathway and saw the main gate. Her only chance of escaping undetected was to try and jump the gate from where she stood.

"But can I make it?" she asked herself. "Oh nuts. Papa save my life!"

Then she remembered what she was all doing this for: to prove her worth as a diclonius, to officially prove to Lucy that she was an equal match in actual combat. Would she let a wall get in her way? A simple physical barrier? Of course not!

"Here goes", she thought as a cold bead of sweat dropped from her head.

Nana summoned all four of her vectors to grip the wooden ledge. Using all of her mental strength she pushed off and flew through the air to try and clear the gate: she didn't.

She found herself falling, but falling towards the barrier that stood in her way. Immediately, she reached out both her arms and caught the top edge of the gate.

"Oof!" she grunted after the rest of her body hit the gate.

The impact caused a small thud, not enough for any of the other residents to hear, except for Wanta. The small dog walked out of his doghouse and stared at Nana. Nana looked directly back at him, in cold fear. She was still clinging onto the edge.

"Shhhhh Wanta, quiet", she whispered in an attempt to keep him quiet, hoping that he wouldn't bark like crazy.

Oddly enough, Wanta obediently complied and went back inside his doghouse.

Nana climbed over the gate and dropped down outside the property. She checked the time on her watch: 7:08. One look at the sky showed that sunset wasn't far away. On average time, it took her about fifteen minutes to walk to the beach. Running distance should cut the time down to ten or nine.

"I don't have long", she thought, "I've got to hurry".

Then she broke off, sprinting to the beach.

Back at the Kaede Inn… 

Kouta, Mayu, and Yuka sat at the table, eating their dinner with an eerie feeling surrounding them.

"Yuka-chan, can I call Nyuu for dinner one more time?" Kouta asked.

"But Kouta-kun, you might just aggravate her", Yuka warned.

"Don't worry, she wouldn't think of harming anyone. She didn't even want to harm Nana, remember?"

"Okay then", Yuka allowed.

Kouta got up and walked away. Mayu's eyes still looked empty as she stared down at her plate and silently ate. Yuka had been observing her from the corner of her eye.

"Mayu-chan, even if Nana did yell at you, she didn't mean it", she said in an attempt to comfort her.

Mayu broke out of her dismal stupor and looked at Yuka.

"She really did mean it!" Mayu said back. "I really was part of the reason why she lost her limbs!"

"_Nani_?" Yuka asked, puzzled. "How?"

"Well, Nana was ready to take down Lucy when I tried to-"

"I'm back." Kouta said as he returned with Nyuu.

"Nyuu!" Nyuu said in agreement.

Apparently, Lucy had reverted back to Nyuu while pouring over her own thoughts of what do. She must have felt some guilt in being the catalyst for Nana's anger that past afternoon.

"So, what happened then?" Yuka asked Mayu.

"Never mind, I don't want to talk about it right now", she bluntly answered as she picked up her plate. "Thanks for the food".

Mayu walked out and went upstairs.

"Could you call Nana one last time?" Yuka called after her.

"Fine then".

Mayu reached the front of Nana's door and knocked. No response.

"Nana-san?"

She knocked one last time to make sure. Nothing but silence. Mayu looked closer at the door and saw that something was jamming it. She must have really been ticked off.

"She must be asleep already", Mayu thought. "Oh well, I'm going for a bath".

At the Kamakura beachside… 

After moving as fast as she could, Nana reached the beach. Her stomach began to growl.

"Ugghhhhhmmmm, I need some food so badly!" she moaned.

The sun was starting to turn orange, a sure sign of nearing nightfall. She glanced at her watch: 7:18. Good enough, but time was still of the essence. All that was left to do was to find Bando. Nana scanned the beachside and saw a light in the window of one of the beachside shacks. That's probably him. Nana headed for the shack.

"Ugh, this is worse than melon bread", Bando complained as he filleted a raw fish that he earlier caught. "Reminds me of the old days of the SAT. Plus, I'm dead bored. No run and gun action for weeks now. Well, at least not ever since bitch Lucy defeated me a second time."

He popped a piece of the fish in his mouth and continued to grumble until he heard rushing footsteps heading for his shack. Instinctively, he reached for his .50 pistol and waited. Nana reached the doorway and was immediately jolted by the shock of staring down the ominously dangerous barrel of a gun.

"Hey, hey!" she panicked. "It's just me!"

"Oh, it's you again", he said as he holstered his weapon. "What are you doing here around this time? Isn't it usually a little late for you to be showing up?"

Nana was too busy hungrily eyeing the raw pieces of fish to respond.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, kid", Bando spoke louder.

"Oh sorry", Nana apologized. "I want to ask you something. I need your help."

"Wow, that's a change", he commented. "Usually you tell me all sorts of crap and stuff about your life, but, I'm bored anyway. So go ahead, shoot. I don't see how much I could help you though".

"Well, I've been having trouble with Lucy-oh crap!" she panicked again. "I spilled it again!"

"Spilled what?" Bando asked. "Forget about it, kid. I knew you were living with her the whole time. And I'm in no condition to take her down anymore. So what were you saying?"

"How did you do it? How did you beat Lucy and walk out alive both times?"

Bando looked down at the floor. Then he looked back up with a serious expression on his face.

"Beat Lucy? Ha!" he spat. "I didn't beat her! She ripped off my right arm in our first encounter! Second time, she did it again and left me lying there on the sand. Why did you just ask that?"

"Umm, I'm going to fight her again. Tomorrow at dusk."

Bando grinned and he started to laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh that's a good one! You? Fight her!? AHAHAHAHAHA! Oh this is just too great! Ooh! That's a nice once!"

"I'm serious, dammit!" Nana screamed at him. "It's a rematch!"

The former SAT soldier finally stopped laughing and calmed down.

"Okay, kid, I'll tell you something. Don't fight her unless you really want to risk losing your limbs again, or some other body part for that matter. If you really must, don't get too cocky. That can be detrimental to even a combatant with the highest advantage."

"Don't get cocky, huh?" Nana thought in her mind. She deemed it as good enough advice for her.

"Okay then, thanks for the advice!" she said with a smile.

"Whatever kid", he answered.

"And my name is Nana".

"Okay, Nana, now get outta here. Oh wait, where are you going to fight her anyway?"

"In the Kamakura graveyard, why?"

"Nothing".

Nana was once again staring at the fresh fish fillets.

"Can I have one?" she hungrily asked as her stomach grumbled again.

Bando rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you're hopeless", he answered.

Nana greedily wolfed down the piece and checked the time again: 7:42. The sun was already halfway below the horizon. After finishing business, she sprinted off, back to the Kaede Inn…

Wow, all that just for three words of advice. What do the final hours before the fight tomorrow hold for everyone? Check out next chapter: Last Minute.


	6. Last Minute

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_Nana is returning from Bando's beach shack. Is she truly ready to take on Lucy? Speaking of, is Lucy also ready to take on Nana, a close relative?_

Last Minute

Nana hurried back and arrived at the Kaede Inn's gate. Checking her watch, the digital numbers warned that it was 7:55. She had only five minutes to get back in her room!

"Crap!" she cursed.

Thinking quickly, she used her vectors to vault over the gate and land on the unlit part of the pathway. Wanta once again walked out of his doghouse and looked in Nana's direction.

"Shhhhh Wanta", she whispered.

It worked again, until she inadvertently stepped on a pile of broken glass, giving off a loud crunch. Wanta panicked and began barking like crazy. Nana wasted no time in getting to the ledge. She ran across the lawn and vaulted herself back onto the wooden ledge.

Whisking her head in the direction of the horizon, she saw that the sun had completely set. It just turned 7:59. Nana has less than sixty seconds to get back in her room. Yuka was known to always being punctual. So punctual, in fact, that she was sometimes accurate to the second. Or in terms of extreme exaggeration, even to the millisecond.

Hurrying the best she could, Nana crept along the ledge as quickly as possible. She finally reached her window and quickly jumped back into her room. Made it on time, barely.

Yuka's footsteps resounded from the staircase. Nana opened her schoolbag and started doing her homework. A few seconds later, Yuka knocked and opened the door: Mayu's last attempt to open it dislodged the chair.

"Nana, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just fine", Nana muttered back after forcing a frown.

"That's good, just go to bed as soon as it hits 9:00, okay?"

"Sure".

Yuka left Nana to her studies. Fortunately for Nana, all that there was to do was to study for tomorrow's Algebra test. Her facial expression lightened up into a smile.

"Haha, maybe one day I can become a secret agent!" she smiled to herself. "You know, that soldier on the beachside isn't half bad as I thought he was. He may not be a very kind person, but he sure is a good listener and adviser. I wish I knew more about him… Hah, what am I thinking? Enough chitchat, Nana! You need to study! Not to mention, prepare yourself for tomorrow…" sigh

In Lucy's room… 

"I still don't get it", Lucy said as meditated in her own room. "Nana, wanting a rematch? What's gotten in to her? Then again, she sounded awfully serious and enraged. And I know what rage can do to a diclonius. Especially one like her. I guess I should apologize to Nana. But then again, that would only encourage her to take advantage of my brief weakness. I've got to follow through with what she said. Besides, I have to teach her a lesson. However, there is no way in hell that I can think of seriously hurting her. But what if I revert back to Nyuu in the middle of the fight? I'd be dead meat! Speaking of, I need to find a way to control my other side better."

Lucy was starting to panic. She quickly countered her negative thoughts by reassuring herself.

"It's okay", she told herself. "You'll deal with it when the time comes. You've escaped a high security facility, survived an army of highly trained soldiers, and even survived an attack from "the ultimate diclonius", Mariko. How can tomorrow be any worse after all that?"

Finally achieving a small sense of mental calm, she rested her head on the pillow. Lucy reached up and felt the stubs where her horns once were.

"Heh, you truly are queen of the diclonii", she sarcastically bragged before falling asleep…

Back in Nana's room… 

_"Nana, Nana, wake up Nana", a voice echoed in her head._

_"Ugh, who is it?" Nana mumbled in her sleep._

_"It's me, Kurama, remember?"_

_"PAPA!?"_

Nana sprung awake and looked up. The man wore a blue suit, complete with a purple tie and glasses. It really was him! It was Papa! But when she looked around her, there was nothing but a completely white background. The sight of so much white blinded her so she looked back at her papa. Was it a dream?

_"Papa, what are you doing here?" she asked absolutely dumbfounded._

She still had no idea about her whereabouts or exactly what was going on.

_"I thought that I might pay you a visit after seeing how you still have difficulty getting to the life of a civilian", Kurama said._

_"What?"_

_"Your conflict with Lucy, Nana. Although I agree that her inconsiderate comments towards you were uncalled for, I was shocked by the brashness of how you acted towards her. Even back at the facility where you endured brutal experiments worse than that, you still held your will. Why is that so?"_

_"Papa-I…well…it's because you were the only one that I could look to." Nana answered as tears welled up in her eyes. "You kept me going. You were the only person in my life that understood when I suffered. Now, I don't really have anyone I can turn to in my life anymore! I don't have anyone that I can call a papa! And besides, I don't even have what almost everyone else does: real arms and legs!"_

_Kurama continued to look at Nana with a sympathetic look of empathy on his face._

_"Nana, you know that I will always be there, even in death", he comforted. "You may find this hard to believe, but I feel that the bad side of Lucy is no more. She was born a good person, and years of mental torment made her snap. When I looked into her containment cell, I could see that. Lucy is a relative to you now, a fellow diclonius. You should at least give her a chance, just like everyone else in your household. After all, she's been kind enough to do the same for you now. Even if you won't kill her, making her fight you again won't ease any pain that she's cause you. But if you must stand by what you've said, well, I guess you got to do what you got to do."_

"_Papa?"_

_"Yes, Nana?"_

"Did I fail to make you proud?"

"No, you didn't. The fact that you did your best everywhere, be it enduring the experiments or trying to live a peaceful life, already makes me proud of you to the fullest."

"Thank you Papa."

"Well, time's up. I think it's time you woke up."

"But I'm already awake."

"No, I mean really awake. Weren't you just studying for an Algebra test? That was my favorite subject back in secondary education, you know? I've got to go. Goodbye, Nana."

"Goodbye", Nana said, "Papa".

Then the white background began to fade away.

Snore Snore

Nana was snoozing at her desk, after last night's exhausting hour of studying.

"Looks like it really was just a dream", she groaned. "What time is it?"

The analog clock on the wall read 7:00.

"Wow, perfect timing. I didn't oversleep. I wonder if Mayu-"

Immediately, Nana felt a pang of guilt. Why did she so recklessly berate Mayu as a reason for the loss of her limbs? An apology was in order. That is, after she had gotten ready for school.

Opening her wardrobe, Nana took her usual school uniform out before taking out her purple necktie hair ribbon.

"Geez, I really need more horn accessory options", she giggled to herself.

Then someone knocked on her door.

"Come in", Nana replied.

It was Mayu. She had brought the breakfast to her on a tray.

"Look Nana, I'm sorry if I'm the reason why you-" she started.

Nana shook her head in response.

"No Mayu, it's my fault. _Gomen nasai_. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. It was supposed to be between Lucy and me. Even then, I'm starting to have regrets challenging her."

Mayu smiled after hearing Nana's heartfelt apology.

"You really mean it?"

Nana nodded her head.

"Hey, it's okay", she reassured after setting the breakfast tray down on Nana's desk. "I know what you've been through in the past with her. Anyway, if you're still up to the rematch, I'll be there to cheer you on!"

"_Arigato_ Mayu!" Nana said with gratitude. "Where are Kouta and Yuka?"

"Oh, they had to leave early for some subject tutoring. When you finish breakfast, meet me downstairs so we can head to school!"

"Okay!"

On the road to the University of Kamakura… 

Lucy trudged along the concrete, grumbling about how she had to walk all the way to the university. Although it was only a little over a mile away, the way the streets were arranged made it look longer.

Yuka and Kouta just had to take the car: the only car that they had. It was a silver Toyota Avalon XLS to be exact.

"There's not a single damn taxi in sight!" she grumbled. "There are tons of them around Kamakura, why the heck are none of them around here?"

Well, at least she wasn't grumbling about yesterday's incident, although she sure as hell clearly remembered it. Lucy glanced around and checked where she was. Figures. She was using an alleyway to cut across and try to get to the university on time.

"Haha, silly me", she laughed.

Lucy ran off to get to the nearest main street. She hailed down a nearby taxi and got in.

"University of Kamakura, please", she requested.

The driver plainly nodded and accelerated across the intersection. Lucy looked outside the window, still thinking for the umpteenth time about how to defeat Nana without causing much injury. Any injury for that matter. Then another horrifying thought set in.

"Even if Nyuu doesn't pop in unexpectedly, what if I still lose?" she asked herself. "Come to think of it, she had the upper hand before. Longer vectors, that weird ability to disable my vectors, and if she wanted to, she could've taken off my leg. Although I know that this isn't a death match, I don't know how much Nana really wants to try and beat me up. Damn, it's bad enough that I lost both of my horns. I haven't even tried using my vectors yet. What if they've been weakened? Or worse, what if they don't come out?"

Then her braver and more rational side stepped in.

"What!? Calm down, you shouldn't be worrying like this! You've spent the entire last night meditating. Don't-"

"Hey miss, we're here", the cab driver interrupted.

"_Arigato_, how much do I owe you?"…

Later in the afternoon at Kamakura High School… 

Nana tried to concentrate as she filled in another bubble on her test answer sheet, but she couldn't. It wasn't the fact that Algebra was the last class of the day or that this wasn't one of her strong subjects: it was that her duel with Lucy was to take place soon afterwards. She began to profusely sweat as she watched her watch change its digital numbers faster than usual.

Although no one else noticed, Mayu did. She had been watching her horned friend throughout the day and saw that Nana was getting tenser with each passing second. No doubt about it, Mayu will still be there to cheer Nana on.

As soon as everyone handed in his or her tests, the dismissal bell rang and everyone promptly left at said cue. Nana looked at the clock on the wall a bit longer though. It looked like the last minute had finally gone by.

_No turning back now! Nana gets ready to go to the Kamakura graveyard. Who will emerge victor? The fight ensues next chapter: Tooth and Nail._


	7. Tooth and Nail

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_Another installment of The Fight Game is here: Tooth and Nail._

Tooth and Nail

"But Yuka-chan, we've got to do something about it!"

"Kouta-kun, you know she won't follow through with it! She may look like she knows what she's doing, but Nana's just a little girl. She is known to have those kinds of outbursts. She's probably cooled off by now."

Kouta and Yuka had just finished their day at the university. The two cousins were busy arguing about where to go. Or more like, what to do about the obvious problem. Yuka was ready to go back to the Kaede Inn and rest before making dinner. However, Kouta, with his soft spot for girls, wanted to head to the graveyard. Even though the two rivaled diclonii weren't there to kill each other, he was also aware of the possibility of serious injury. Serious injury spelled out a trip to the hospital. A trip to the hospital spelled out possible extermination. The cover that the residents had managed to successfully keep for three weeks would be blown. He and Yuka could be sought by the SAT. He knew that he couldn't talk the two girls out of fighting. It would be nuts to verbally reason with a diclonius with a temper. There was only one thing that anyone could possibly do: watch. The pessimistic thought sickened Kouta to the stomach. He was going to the graveyard, with or without Yuka.

"Okay Yuka, you go on back", Kouta said as he took off his backpack. "I'm going to make sure that no one gets hurt, too bad", he finished before breaking off into a full sprint.

"Hey wait!" Yuka yelled after him, but stopped after seeing it was useless. "Kouta, you jerk", she sighed as she picked up his bag and walked.

Kouta continued to run as fast as he can towards the cemetery, panicked thoughts still racing though his mind. Within a couple of minutes he arrived at the foot of the stairs to the graveyard before collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Moments later, another man approached and saw the incapacitated Kouta lying on the ground.

At Kamakura High School… 

Nana packed up the last of her schoolbooks and closed her locker. After letting out a deep sigh, she stoically walked down the hallway towards the school's front entrance.

"Hey Nana-san", Mayu greeted as she ran up to join her.

"Hi Mayu-chan", Nana said as she forced a smile.

"What's wrong? You look stressed", Mayu noticed.

"Yes, I am. That test we just took, you know", Nana said in an attempt to cover up what was really bothering her.

She compulsively checked her watch for what must have been the hundredth time that day: 4:06. Due to current autumn season, nightfall came earlier. Consequentially being, dusk would also be sooner. Her eyes widened and she felt Lucy's presence nearby. Seems like her opponent was already heading for the graveyard early. It seemed odd to Nana that Lucy would be going to the agreed place an hour in advance.

"What is she planning?" Nana thought aloud.

"Who's planning?" Mayu asked, giving a concerned look to her friend.

"Oh nothing, I'm just pumped about, well, you know".

"Well, don't worry about it just yet", Mayu advised. "You've got to be in good mental shape when you fight. You've got about fifty minutes before the rematch, don't you? Dusk is about an hour later. We can still head back to the Kaede Inn to rest a bit, or we can pass by one of the street vendors in the area for a snack. In fact, I know a great place where there are some tasty crepes!"

"Does it have to do with a man with a blue rag on his head?" Nana asked without looking at her.

"Are you talking about the owner of the business?" Mayu asked with uncertainty. "I know him very well! He's so polite!" she added with a grin.

"Then forget it!" Nana harshly responded.

"Wha-What?"

"Mayu-chan, I'll have you know that bastard is evil, forgive my language. Pure evil. Remember the night that you first met me?" Nana finished as she looked up from the pavement.

"Yes, what does that have to do with him?"

"I was released from the facility that evening. After my run in with that soldier at the beach, I headed for that crepe shack, expecting something to quell my hunger. You know what I get? A look of contempt! Don't get me wrong, he was still obliged to give me what I wanted, but come on! Just because of my horns! Being the good girl I am, I didn't think of decapitating him then and there, I just wanted one measly chocolate crepe! Then again, I guess it was partially my fault. After all, I didn't know what 500 yen looked like back then. Aww, forget it, Mayu-chan. Just forget I said anything. Besides, I don't want to think about what he'll do if he sees another horned creature within five feet of his business."

"Oh, _gomen nasai, _Nana-san!" Mayu apologetically replied. "I had no idea! Maybe we can pass by Kaede Inn instead?" she suggested by changing the subject.

"It's okay", Nana accepted. "Reminding me of that time actually helped me. Now I won't be tempted to take my frustrations out on that crepe merchant. Instead, I'll take them out on Lucy!"

Mayu slightly nodded, but looked the other way soon afterwards and winced. She knew deep down that Nana was as scared of fighting again just as much as Lucy was, but her horned friend's anger the night before showed just how serious she was. Mayu wasn't the kind of person who would condone violence. Then again, so were Kouta and Yuka. Speaking of the two, what were they going to do about this rivalry? Kouta and Yuka were always looked upon as the "parents" of the household. They should've intervened more strongly and tried to make an effort to convince Nana from fighting Lucy. But looking at the situation in terms of personal power made more sense. Brute force from any vector would crush even the most stern of reprimands. Mayu couldn't blame her guardians because of that. This wasn't going to be an ordinary catfight. She had learned that long ago. However, Nana counted on her as an only friend. And that only friend was caught by the pressure to stand by Nana as she had always done. For now, all Mayu could do is hope that Nana's empathy would kick in and reduce the chance of seriously injuring Lucy in an abhorrent rage. And vice-versa, of course. If nothing else, then encouraging Nana on the sidelines would have to do.

She was snapped out of her deep thought when Nana stopped and clutched her head in agonizing pain.

"AAAAARGH!" Nana cried out.

"Nana-san, what is it!?" a panicked Mayu asked.

"It's…her…Lucy", Nana grunted after regaining her composure. "I knew she was already there!"

"So?"

"She's probably sabotaging the place in her favor!"

"Nana-san, I think you're getting a bit paranoid there".

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Let's keep walking".

The two girls walked along the quiet roadside towards the local graveyard. The sky was beginning to grow ominously dark…

At the Kamakura graveyard… 

Lucy meditated quietly at the center of the cemetery. She had arrived early in order to familiarize herself with the place. It was still a very disorganized looking place despite that fact that she had been there three weeks ago.

"The graveyard, huh?" Lucy talked to herself. "Well, it does look like the perfect battleground".

Her one-sided conversation was briefly interrupted when she heard footsteps coming from the graveyard platform staircase. It didn't feel like Nana. Lucy turned around to see who it was. It couldn't be! Bando approached and faced her, Kouta lying in his arms. The sight alarmed her.

"The soldier from the beach", she fearfully whispered.

She immediately readied her vectors, but as in doing so she felt a wave of physical weakness. It was enough to cause the diclonius to fall on all fours in an attempt to stay up.

"Damn, looks like the damage to my horns is worse than I thought", she thought. "All this time you had and you didn't bother to practice using your vectors?"

Still though, she wasn't taking any chances with this man. Twice he came to kill her, and twice she managed to defeat him. Lucy didn't even want to think of what he was up to.

"Whoa, is this the thanks I get for saving your boyfriend?" Bando asked as her placed Kouta on the ground. "Put those arms down, I'm not here to fight.

Kouta immediately stirred from his unconscious state and sat up. Lucy lowered her vectors and slowly regained the strength to stand up.

"Lucy? How did I get here? I remember falling just at the foot of the stairs…"

Lucy motioned her head in Bando's direction.

"Wha…the soldier from the beach!?" Kouta shockingly acknowledged.

"_Kuso_", the former SAT soldier cursed. "Look you idiots, I'm not here to kill any horn-headed freaks today! The only reason why I came here was to watch a fight that was supposed to happen around this time. So where the hell is all the-"

"And how did you know about this?" Lucy interrupted.

"That other kid. Nana, I believe the kid was?"

"Nana…" Lucy whispered under her breath.

"So, where's the fight, kid?"

"Sir?" Kouta stepped in.

"Lieutenant Bando, kiddo", he introduced with an informal salute.

"Uh Bando, could you let her and me talk in privacy for a while?"

Bando nodded his head and sat down before lighting a cigarette. 

"Are you sure you want to follow through with this?" Kouta asked Lucy. "Your horns are still healing and you might not be in the condition to fight".

Lucy felt her horn stubbles. Then she turned her attention to Kouta.

"Look, if you're still worried about the blood splattering and the killing, don't worry. I'm just going through with that girl's request. I won't kill her. You have my word.

"That's good to hear".

"Besides, I'd be more worried about her killing me. You remember what happened last night."

"Still, are you absolutely sure that you're up to it?"

Lucy tried to summon her vectors to show him and successfully did so, but an acute pain and weakness shot through her again so she ended up having to withdraw them. Kouta's eyes widened in fear, but not in even more horror, when he heard footsteps coming from the staircase. It was Nana, and Mayu followed behind her closely.

"I'm ready!" she growled after taking off her hair ribbon.

"Good luck, Nana!" Mayu called.

"Nana-" Kouta tried to say.

Lucy placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. It wouldn't do much good. Nana had been waiting for this very moment for a long time and nothing was going to stop her, not even those who cared about her.

"Remember what I said kid, don't get cocky!" Bando advised.

"Okay, do your worst", Kouta resigned as he sat down next to Bando.

Lucy nodded and approached Nana, keeping at least three meters away from her.

"Do you really want to fight me?" Lucy nonchalantly asked her.

"Didn't I already make that clear?" Nana answered back with a serious look in her eyes. "I'm ready when you're ready".

She backed up her words by adopting her fighting stance. Lucy did likewise. Here goes nothing.

"Round 1!" Bando called out. "FIGHT!"

At said word, Nana brought out her vectors and grabbed several rocks.

"Bite this!" she snarled after hurling all four of them.

Lucy succeeded in blocking the attack, but every time she summoned her vectors, the debilitating weakness would continue to rack her body. But now was not the time to give up. She followed up by grabbing a graveyard picket with a free vector and throwing it at Nana.

Nana was caught off guard and fell backwards after slicing the thrown picket in half. Splinters of wood flew everywhere as Lucy continued to pummel Nana with more pickets.

"Come on Nana, you can do it!" Mayu kept encouraging.

"Aww yes", Bando exclaimed. "Finally some brutalizing action!"

Bando reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bag of rice crackers. He began chomping on them like popcorn. Kouta was too busy wincing at the blows until his eye caught the snack package.

"Are you going to share those?" he asked.

Bando grunted and held the bag in his direction. Kouta grabbed a handful before continuing watching the fight unfold.

Using the help of her vectors, Nana back flipped to dodge the last of Lucy's pickets. Now it was her turn. Nana used the brute strength of a vector to grab onto one of Lucy's arms. Lucy tried to retaliate, but her vectors were one meter short.

"You can't hope to defeat me with such short arms", Nana said.

Lucy remained unfazed and she grabbed a nearby boulder, hurtling it with all of the mental strength that she had left. Dead on. The boulder struck Nana and she fell backwards again. By now, the commotion was increasing and the harsh sounds of broken objects and heavy blows filled the air.

"Kouta!" cried a familiar voice.

Kouta saw Yuka run towards him from the cemetery entrance.

"Yuka?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"The same thing you're doing! On my way back to the inn, I head some racket coming from here. I had no idea that it was going to be this bad-"

**CRASH!**

Nana had ripped a sizeable branch off a nearby cherry blossom and threw it at Lucy. Lucy was already too weak to fight back and she tried to brace herself against the impending blow. It didn't do much good as the branch smashed across her face, drawing blood.

Kouta couldn't take the sight anymore. He had to intervene now.

"Nana!" he screamed as he ran towards Nana. "Stop it already! Please stop!"

Lucy recognized those words. She still remembered them from the subway where she had murdered Kouta's sister and father, and it still hurt to hear them. She was hoping that the same three words would be enough to break Nana's emotional barrier.

But Nana showed no sign of stopping. She turned in Kouta's direction and knocked him in the stomach with a vector, causing him to reel backwards in pain. Kouta immediately backed off. He was too scared to even notice the different look in her crimson eyes: her pupils were contricted and glazed over, showing that her killer instincts were active. Lucy immediately recognized them. Bando also caught a glimpse of it.

"Whoa, she's out for blood!" Bando exclaimed as he popped another rice cracker in his mouth.

"What!?" asked Mayu, Yuka, and Kouta in unison.

"I've seen them before. Whenever silpelits are about to kill, they get that scary look in their eyes".

The whole audience watched in horror as the endgame approached.

Lucy was already down and Nana was beginning to walk towards her. If she didn't find the strength to defend herself, it would be game over for her. There had to be a way. And there was.

"Nyuu, looks like you'll have to take over", she sighed.

The plan that she quickly formulated wasn't too good, but it would buy her some time. She was planning on letting Nyuu switch over. Lucy was banking on the hope that Nyuu would at least be able to fight back, but not once was her other side able to use her vectors though. Not to mention, Nyuu could be completely oblivious to the current situation that she would be switched into. It was a gamble that Lucy had to take.

"Okay, you're up", she whispered as she concentrated on switching personalities.

A few seconds later, Nyuu appeared, characterized by her gentle eyes and lighter facial expression.

"Nyuu?" she uttered.

"C'mon Nyuu, evil Nana is about to kick you in the face!"

Lucy was trying to talk to her from the subconscious part of her mind. It proved to be very difficult.

"Face, kick?" Nyuu confusedly asked as she looked up. Nana now towered over her, the menacing look still in her eyes.

"I'll show you what pain is!" Nana screamed as she kicked her in the face with repressed rage.

"Aaaaah!" Nyuu cried out.

Nana followed up with a roundhouse kick to the stomach.

Nyuu fell on all fours, blood dripping from her face.

"Haha!" Nana exclaimed as her killer instincts subsided. "Even with my bare prosthetic limbs, I can still beat you!"

But she had no time to celebrate her victory, for Nyuu was now completedly aware of what was going on.

"NYUU!" she yelled. Nyuu had caught Nana by surprise and pounced on her, pinning down all four of her limbs.

"Hey let go!" Nana yelled, trying to thrash with no avail.

Lucy was still completely aware of the situation and watched through Nyuu's eyes.

"Yes, that's it!" she goaded. "Rip off her limbs!"

"Yes!" Nyuu snarled in acknowledgment after taking one of Nana's prosthetic arms off.

"What did I tell you kid?", Bando reminded Nana, "Don't get cocky!"

Nyuu's eyes narrowed to match Nana's angry look. Nana wasn't fooled, however. She could still sense Lucy, barely though. Nana came to the conclusion that her opponent has switched sides, possibly to influence her into going easier. What treachery! It was enough to push Nana over the edge once again. She felt a fresh wave of rage overcome her, and unintentionally her killer instincts took over.

"W-Wha-What's going on!?" Mayu stuttered in panic.

Yuka cowered from the scene, hiding behind a gravestone for what cover it may provide. Kouta stared wide-eyed at the scene. The thought of the unlikely combo of Nyuu and aggression shocked him even more. Bando, on the other hand, watched intently and even yelled out random comments to the duelists.

"Yeah, kiddo!" he cheered on Nana. "Beat that bitch beyond recognition!"

Nana paid no mind, for her killer side was still on the field. She countered Nyuu's grab with a quick head butt. The recoil stunned Nana, but it was enough to make her opponent let go.

"Guess strategy is the only way I can take her down", she thought in a short moment of rationality. "Maybe I can fool her, just like she tried on me. All right. This one's for my limbs, bitch! Wait-AAAAARG!"

The silpelit was slipping in and out of saneness and killer instinct. It didn't seem to matter anyway. Both of her sides were hell-bent on revenge in this rematch. Her more rational side popped in again.

"What is this!?" Nana asked, slightly frightened.

It was a familiar feeling that she had felt moments before. It felt more powerful and strangely homicidal. No matter how angry she was at Lucy, she would place some restraint on her combat methods. But this new side was concentrated on only one thing: killing. At first Nana was befuddled, but decided to follow through with her plan after seeing that even in this mode, she still had control.

Nana dropped on all fours, as planned, in order to fake weakness. Nyuu stood up and charged at her, ready to deliver a retaliating blow. Lucy immediately recognized the trap.

"No Nyuu! Don't-!"

It was too late to stop Nyuu. Nana immediately grabbed her stray arm with a free vector and hurled it square at Nyuu's face. Nyuu fell back in excruciating pain, unable to fight anymore. Lucy immediately reverted back. Nana reattached her prosthetic arm and walked up to the fallen Lucy, clarifying her victory.

Lucy's eyes immediately widened in horror. Nana's killer instincts were still active. Who knows what she could do?

"Look familiar?" Nana asked, intentionally using Lucy's words against her.

"Do something!" Mayu pleaded Bando. "She's going to kill Lucy!"

"What? Why? I'm enjoying the sweet revenge right now!"

"Just do it now!" she said after showing him his cell phone number.

"Kid, need I remind you that you've already expended my favor? I could've kicked your butt back on the beach-"

"God damn it, stop her! That's an order, soldier!" Mayu yelled at him, shaking a fist.

"Oh pfft…fine! Kids these days."

Meanwhile, Lucy had managed to come up with one final plan.

"What do you have to say for yourself now you pain in the ass?" Nana taunted.

"Absolutely nothing, but I would like to ask you something".

"What?" her opponent retorted.

"Does it hurt now?"

At that moment, Nana's eyes filled with tears that she tried to hold back. Her killer instincts had finally subsided.

Deep down, it really did hurt. She shouldn't have even thought of brazenly fighting Lucy in the first place. What was she doing? This rematch shouldn't have mattered. Winning didn't even matter as much as it sounded. Lucy was like a close relative to her. Lucy was a close relative. Almost like a sister. Nana suddenly came to the realization that she nearly killed Lucy. The guilt began to set into her.

"Are you suffering yet?" Lucy added.

"No…" Nana whimpered. "Please no…no more!"

**Bang!**

In that instant, a .50 tungsten bullet barely grazed Nana's skull by a millimeter. She felt a paralyzing jolt in her head and fell the ground, unconscious. Bando triumphantly raised his pistol in the air, confirming his success.

"Game…over…", Lucy whispered before fainting.

"NOOOOO!" Mayu wailed, unable to take the stress anymore. "What the hell did you do that for!?"

"What?" Bando asked dumbfounded. "It took a tungsten bullet to snap her out of it before, and it took another one to do it again!"

"Nyuu! Nana!" Yuka cried out as she ran to the two fallen duelists.

"Are they dead!?" Kouta begged to know.

The four onlookers approached the horrifying sight. Yuka checked Lucy first: a quick check showed that she was still breathing and was unconscious.

"You and Mayu, take Lucy back to the Kaede Inn", Kouta told them. "I'll take care of Nana".

Mayu nervously nodded and aided Yuka in placing Lucy on their shoulders. Within moments, they were gone.

Kouta turned to Nana next. Her eyes were slightly open, fresh tears still falling. A trickle of blood fell across her face when Kouta turned her face up. She was still awake, but barely. It looked like Nana had snapped out of her killer mode long ago.

"K-Kouta-san", barely moaned Nana as she tried to reach up to him.

"Don't talk, you need to rest", Kouta calmly assured her as he placed her arm around his shoulder.

Hoisting the girl in his arms, Kouta looked in Bando's direction. The man still stood by, observing the scene around him. Night had arrived.

"We'd better leave soon", Bando said. "Looking at all the chaos we've caused here, this would be enough to attract the attention of the SAT".

Kouta wholeheartedly agreed, and they immediately headed for the Kaede Inn. He still wasn't done talking though.

"What did you do to her?" he firmly asked Bando.

"It sounds strange kid, but bear with me", Bando started. "On the night that she was released from that facility, she went all killer instinct on me".

"Why? What did you do?"

"Well, um, not much. Except for, uh, trying to shoot her twice, and kicking her, and telling her all about the bad side of diclonii".

Kouta gave him a disturbed look, but continued asking questions.

"Then what?"

"Then her eyes got that scary look. She nearly killed me on that beach. That is until I shot her with this".

Bando tapped the .50 pistol inside his coat pocket.

".50 custom-made tungsten bullet", he added. "Their vectors have much difficulty in blocking these rounds. I'll be honest with you; I was trying for a headshot after she pinned me down. But all that I managed to do was graze her skull. Then she returned to her normal, childish self, all crying and stuff".

"And that's what you just did to her?" Kouta finally asked.

"A perfect SAT marksman!" Bando exclaimed to him. "But don't worry, it shouldn't be lethal".

"Kouta…", whispered Nana as she tried to stay awake. "_Gomen…nasai…_are…you…mad…at…me?"

"I don't know why, Nana, but I have a feeling that it's not all your fault", Kouta replied. "It's okay, I'm not mad at you".

Nana blinked once more before closing her eyes. Bando and Kouta continued to walk along the roadside, back to the Kaede Inn…

_So ends the fight, without a victor. What now? Until the next chapter: Game Over. R&R please!_


	8. Game Over

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_At long last, the fight is over. But is everything else?_

Game Over

"_Itai!_"

Kouta had tripped on a step and nearly dropped Nana in the process. After doing so, he glanced at the hand that held her head. It was stained red. It looked like Nana was still bleeding from the wound.

"Hey, Bando, can you give me a hand here?" he tiredly asked.

"Yeah", Bando answered. "I think it's best if you let me take over carrying her. You look dead tired".

"For obvious reasons. Aww no, my back hurts. Just how much does she weigh anyway?" Kouta panted.

The concrete staircase led up to the Kaede Inn. It wasn't that far from the cemetery, but Nana's weight made the walk back seem like hours. At least for Kouta it did.

"What, she's nothing but a featherweight!" Bando said after hefting the girl over his shoulder. "What are you, a typical college loser?"

"Basically", replied Kouta with a sheepish smile. "Anyway, we've got to treat her injury once we get inside".

"Right".

After climbing the lengthy staircase, they had arrived at the Kaede Inn.

"Nice place that you have here", complimented Bando as he stepped inside. "It sure is better than the barracks and the beachside shack".

"Hey, take off your shoes!" came Yuka's voice from the hallway. "The floors were just cleaned this morning!"

"All right, all right!" Kouta said as he took off his sneakers.

"So, where do I bring her?" Bando asked.

"Upstairs, quick!"

In the meantime, Yuka and Mayu were busy tending to Lucy's wounds.

"Hand me the ice pack, Mayu".

Mayu complied and filled the container with ice. Yuka took it and immediately placed it on Lucy's bruised head.

At that instant, she regained consciousness and raised her vectors, ready to fight. The pain ran through her already beaten body and she soon fell down again.

"Relax, you're not in the cemetery anymore", Mayu reassuringly told her.

"Whew, that's good", Lucy sighed. "Oh, I feel so dizzy. My horns…"

"Don't worry about those either", Yuka added. "They seem to be growing back".

Lucy reached up to her horns and felt them. Yuka wasn't lying. The formerly jagged edges had become smoother and rounder. The horns weren't fully healed, which explained why she still felt weak.

"I wouldn't be worrying too much about my horns right now", Lucy said as she began to stand up. "What about Nana? If I can recall, she was shot in the head! Is she all right? Where is she?"

After standing up, however, Lucy managed to limp forward one step before falling backwards into Mayu's arms.

"But Nyuu-san, you must rest!" Mayu suggested. "Apologies can wait until later. Besides, you're still injured!"

"And she's not?" Lucy countered. "Nana received the worst of the injuries! Damn it, it's my fault! If I hadn't made fun of her like that…"

Mayu turned to Yuka for an answer. Yuka nodded her head and then turned to Lucy.

"All right", Yuka said. "We'll take you upstairs later. We shall see Nana-chan's condition together, but first, lie down for a few minutes. Then we will go, but slowly. We don't want you to fall down again. Besides, I have to make sure that dinner is ready".

Lucy gave her a look of reluctant agreement before lying back on the cot. Yuka hustled back to the kitchen to check on her cooking.

Upstairs, Nana lay on her bed, barely aware of what was going on. Kouta was busy trying to stop the bleeding with the already blood soaked rags. Bando wrung out the saturated rags and handed them back to him.

"Damn it!" Kouta cursed. "I thought you said that this wasn't lethal!"

Bando examined Nana's scalp, trying to find the wound. Then his eye caught the temple on the side of her head. Blood oozed out of the gash and from the look of the bright red color it came out of an artery. In grazing Nana's skull, Bando had also grazed an artery. Thankfully, it wasn't completely severed.

"Oh boy", he muttered.

"What?"

"Looks like I hit a major artery. She needs medical attention. We have to bring her to a hospital."

"No!" Kouta yelled.

"Huh, what now!?" Bando asked, now aggravated.

"You don't know what they do to anyone looking like horns…" Kouta angrily answered after remembering Arakawa's words. "Patients with horns are immediately quarantined…and…and…"

"And what?"

"They're exterminated", he finished.

"Damn, so regardless of whether or not they are born in a hospital, looks like humanity won't take its chances".

Nana began to stir and slowly tilted her head to look at Kouta.

"Pa…pa", she barely whispered. "Help me…papa…it hurts so much…"

"Don't worry, Nana", Kouta comforted. "You're going to be okay".

He pressed the rag into the wound to try and control the hemorrhage.

"So kid, what do we do?" Bando questioned. "Bring her to a hospital, and they'll kill her. Worse even, she could be returned to that facility. Leave her like this and hope for the best, she'll die of blood loss. _Kuso_, what a dilemma."

Just then, Yuka, Lucy, and Mayu just entered the room.

"Hey Kouta, how is Nana doing?" Lucy asked.

"Not good".

One look at the wounded silpelit's hemorrhaging head was enough to convince her.

"Yuka, do you have any medicine?" Kouta asked.

"No, my medicine chest is out", Yuka answered.

"Aren't you of the SAT?" Mayu asked Bando.

"Formerly", he grunted.

"You have to know first aid or something!" she pleaded.

"Look kid-"

Mayu immediately held up his cell phone number. Bando always hated that trump card. Wasn't she already aware that the favor was a one-time deal? Nevertheless, he really was of the SAT, although formerly. Killing people was one of the things he enjoyed, but so was getting the job done with honor. He decided to help out.

"Hmm…you're right. But my field surgery training isn't up to date. It's been years since I saw one. Besides, my right mechanical arm is still busted. Being left-handed isn't a good thing, especially in this kind of a situation…"

"Then why don't you tell me how it's done?" Kouta suggested. "You have the knowledge, I have the ability to carry it out. It's worth a try!"

"But, it's been a while…"

"Bando, this is a serious situation!" Kouta interjected. Do something! Come on!"

Bando grimaced for a moment before looking at Nana. Her hair near the affected temple was blotched with the reddish stain of gore. He nearly felt a pang of compassion at that moment. Then he looked back at Kouta.

"Fine, let's do it", he agreed. "Make sure you follow me to the letter though".

Kouta nodded.

"All right, where do we start?"

"Hey girl, do you have a needle?" Bando asked Yuka.

"I'll get it", she said before running downstairs.

Bando reached inside his suit coat and pulled out some fishing line.

"Fishing line?" Kouta confusedly questioned.

"Pretty damn strong", Bando explained. "Especially for stitching. When you live nearby a beach, you need this stuff…"

"Here's the needle", Yuka said, handing it to Kouta.

"Okay, you're going to thread the line through the needle first", Bando instructed.

Kouta complied and did so.

"Nana, I'm going to have to sterilize your wound", Bando explained to her. "This may hurt, but bear with us, kid".

"O…kay", she weakly responded.

"And you", he said to Mayu. "Bring some water. We need to irrigate the wound first."

Mayu didn't waste a moment and was soon back with a large bowl of water. She slowly poured water onto the affected side of Nana's head, washing the blood away for the time being.

Bando reached inside his other coat pocket and pulled out a bullet and a lighter. He cracked open the round and distributed the gunpowder over Nana's still bleeding gash. As quickly as he could, he placed the lighter near the wound and lit the flame. The gunpowder immediately flashed and combusted, effectively sanitizing the injury.

"A…AAAH!" Nana moaned in a stifled cry of pain.

A few feet away, the other girls saw the flash of gunpowder. It was nearly enough to frighten them.

"What are you-" Yuka started.

Lucy placed a hand on Yuka's shoulder, signaling her to stop. All that they could hope for was that the former SAT soldier knew what he was doing.

"The needle is threaded", Kouta told Bando.

"Good, you know how to stitch, right?"

"Yes".

"Start the stitch right here", Bando motioned towards the edge of the artery. "Careful kid, don't make too much of a mess".

Kouta brushed back Nana's hair and tried to find the vessel, but the blood obscure his view.

"Mayu, can you give me some water here?" he asked.

Mayu nodded and poured some more, giving Kouta just enough time to see the artery and place the first stitch. He continued with the second stitch.

"It…hurts!" Nana wailed.

"It's okay", he reassured. "I'm almost done".

His words succeeded in calming Nana down and it enabled him to place a third stitch on the vessel.

"It's working", Bando observed. "The bleeding is beginning to slow! Just two more, and we'll have it sealed!"

A few seconds later, Kouta managed to sew the last two stitches on. Some residual blood still covered the artery, so no one could tell if the bleeding had stopped, or if it was under control.

"Give me one last pour here Mayu", he said.

Mayu followed up with another rinse before Bando took a look. He turned around to break the news to everyone else.

"The surgery was a success!" he triumphantly announced.

Yuka and Kouta breathed a sigh of relief while Mayu began to cry tears of joy. Lucy smiled after hearing the success.

"Anything else?" Kouta asked Bando.

"Just place a bandage on that, and it will eventually heal". Bando replied.

Kouta was wrapping a bandage around Nana's head until she began to stir again.

"Kouta-san?" Nana weakly asked.

"Yes?"

"I'm so sorry…_Gomen nasai_…I didn't mean to-"

"No, Nana", Lucy interrupted. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have belittled you so brashly last night. I guess I was too full of myself back there".

Nana managed to smile, accepting the apology. But then she turned her attention towards Kouta.

"Nana, it's okay", he said. "Like I said, I have a feeling that it's not entirely your fault".

"How?" she asked.

"Your instincts", Lucy explained. "Although many diclonii are able to control most of them, they can still get the better of you. Especially when you're in a very upset stage. It's not pretty, I tell you".

"Anyways, don't worry about it", Kouta added. "Right now you need to rest. You have to recover now".

Then Yuka entered the room.

"Would you care to stay for dinner?" she asked Bando. "All the work you did must have left you tired".

"As long as it beats sushi and melon bread, I'm up for it!" he accepted.

Lucy and Mayu nodded in agreement and headed downstairs with the others.

"I'll be back with your share!" Kouta told Nana before following the others.

Nana nodded and continued to rest on her bed. Her head was still throbbing and painful. She was too weak to stand up anyway.

The Kaede residents and Bando now sat at the table, eating their meal together while Bando told his "war stories".

"And so there I was", Bando recounted. "Standing behind those metal barrels, anticipating what my vicious quarry would do next. Then I watched as the body of my comrade was hurled in my direction, followed by a motorboat. The explosions! The grandeur! BLAM! POW!"

Lucy rolled her eyes in amusement after recalling that event on the beach. Mayu and Yuka chuckled as the story unfolded.

Kouta, however, stood up to leave. He picked up a bowl with some udon soup in it.

"I'll be right back", he said to the others.

Bando nodded and continue with his story. Kouta headed upstairs and opened the door to Nana's room. She still lay in bed.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked her.

Nana lay still for a moment before rolling over to look at him.

"I'm fine", she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought you some soup. You have to eat to you know".

Nana was puzzled. Why was Kouta still helping her? After all she had done in the past couple of days, what right did she have to be taken back in? She had entered this place as a stranger, and Kouta was the first one to invite her in. Why? She just didn't get it all. Guilt began to set in again.

"Nana?" he asked after seeing her deep in thought.

"Oh, what?" she said, attempting to cover up her guilt.

"You still look like you're in bad condition. Would you like me to spoon-feed you?"

"What's spoon-feed, Kouta-san?"

"I'll help you eat it".

She looked at his kindness in further confusion and blushed. But she had been through enough for the day and decided to accept.

"Okay".

Kouta took a spoonful of the udon and held it up to her mouth for the next few minutes. Nana carefully chewed on the noodles before swallowing them instead of wolfing them down as she usually would.

"Mmm…" she savored the flavor. "What is it? It doesn't taste like soumen".

"It's udon", Kouta replied with a smile.

"Oh…hey Kouta-san?"

"Yes, Nana?"

"Thank you".

"You're welcome".

Soon enough, the soup was finished, and Kouta had to head back downstairs to help Yuka with the dishes.

"Good night, Nana", he said after tucking her in.

"Good night…Kouta-san", she replied.

Deep down, Nana's guilt still continued to grow. She was already granted forgiveness, why does it still hurt? She couldn't take it anymore.

Without another thought, Nana escaped out the window and ran towards the same place she had ran to the night before. Feelings were still unaccounted for. And so was business.

**At the Kamakura graveyard…**

Bando was right. The cover of darkness had fallen and the local police had long arrived and sealed off the "crime scene". Among them was also a different group of people. Kakuzawa and a small cadre of SAT soldiers were part of the investigation. Arakawa was also there.

"What's going on, sir?" she asked.

"The graveyard has been entirely wrecked", Kakuzawa pointed out. "Common street vandals couldn't have done this. Not to mention, this scene looks oddly familiar".

"In what way?"

"When Kurama dispatched silpelit seven to find Lucy, they fought here. And if you can recall right, that should have been her demise".

"You're still looking for her?" Arakawa asked. "There haven't been any more suspicious decapitations around here ever since Lucy's termination. Why do you want Nana? What if she's peacefully coexisting with humanity?"

"I told you to never call her that!" Kakuzawa spat. "You are to strictly refer to her as number seven! Silpelits are the worthless spawn of our ultimate species: the true diclonii! Kurama made the mistake of becoming excessively attached to silpelit seven. Do not make the same mistake, Arakawa!"

"Y-yes sir", she stuttered. "But why are you going after her if you originally wanted Lucy? Speaking of, how can you become the 'catalyst of a new species' if the queen is dead? What use is silpelit seven to you?"

"A lot", Kakuzawa answered. "We need number seven alive. But the details are not for you to know".

"What?"

"It looks like I was wrong. Sending out silpelit thirty-five to eliminate number seven was a mistake".

"A mistake, how?"

"Silpelit seven's docile nature could prove useful…"

"What do you mean?" Arakawa pressed.

"Sir!" an SAT soldier interrupted. "The police have combed through the immediate evidence and you must hear the results!"

"Fire away", Kakuzawa nonchalantly said.

"Several handprints were found at the scene, but without any kind of distinct markings. The forensics department has examined the handprints on a microscopic scale, and traces of the vector virus were found. There were also blood spatters. We managed to get the samples and analyze them further at the facility. The DNA signatures match those of number seven and Lucy!"

"Then it is as I feared", Kakuzawa said.

"What are you thinking?" Arakawa asked.

"Lucy could still be alive, and so could silpelit seven. Only now, we don't know exactly where they are! They could be halfway to Tokyo by now!"

"Or not", Arakawa corrected. "Look!"

She pointed to the distant beachside. To Kakuzawa's surprise, it was Nana!

"It's her!" he gasped.

"You're not going to mobilize the SAT again, are you?" Arakawa asked.

"Every member of the SAT that we sent after a diclonius ended up dead", Kakuzawa pointed out. "This time, she's going to lead us to her hideout.

"Hideout?"

"She may have allied with Lucy. After all, diclonii share the same homicidal instincts. Second, there is no way that she could have survived in Kamakura undetected without humans to aid her. There may be more players on the field".

"So what are you planning?"

"Arakawa, prep number six for possible combat".

"Do you mean Roku, sir? But Roku is a carbon copy of Nana! Haven't you noticed that he has refused to raise vector against anyone? Roku is yet to demonstrate his combat skills and with that vector disability of his, it doesn't look good".

"Oh, he's not going to fight. Not now. Silpelit six has several special abilities, which far surpass number seven's ability. When we return to the facility, I will update you on the details. We need to find out where she is residing, and who else is involved! For now, send some SAT units after silpelit seven. Maybe her peaceful mentality will make it easier to capture her this time".

"Yes sir, I just have one question".

"What?"

"Can I get a shower now?"

"After you find out where silpelit seven has been hiding. Then we can talk."

"Arrgh!" Arakawa grunted in frustration.

"I'm taking the ferry back to the island facility. I suggest you follow"…

At the Kamakura beachside… 

Nana stared silently out to the ocean. The beach was the only place she could think of going to if for some reason the Kaede Inn was unsuitable. The dull throbbing in her head was still there, and she had struggled to walk getting here. Now, only shame filled her mind. Time after time, her fear had proved itself.

"As I thought, It's not possible for me to live with others", she said to herself. "Not even a fellow diclonius".

Unable to hold it back anymore, she collapsed on the rough sand and sobbed uncontrollably.

"PAPA!" she cried out. "I'm sorry! I've been a bad girl and I don't know what to do!"

Nana stayed there and cried for what must have been a long time. That is, until she was rudely interrupted.

"Hey, you're a diclonius!" yelled out an SAT soldier. "Surround her!"

She had fully exposed herself, venturing close to the graveyard. Not to mention, she forgot to cover her horns. Dead giveaway. A dozen soldiers now surrounded her, ready to fire…

_Nana runs away after feeling guilty about her aggressive action towards Lucy over the past two days. Now, the enemy has found her again. Is it another fight that is yet to ensue? Worse yet, how many more lives could be endangered? Next chapter: True Loyalties. _

_People, I'm considering doing a sequel following up on this fic after seeing how Kakuzawa isn't finished yet. I don't know if it would catch on, so send me a review and tell me if I should continue or not with a sequel._


	9. True Loyalties

_Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied._

_Despite being forgiven, Nana runs away from the inn, ashamed at what she has done. The graveyard has been trashed, and the ruckus gets Kakuzawa's attention. After finding out that Nana is still alive, he sends the SAT after her. Is she going to surrender peacefully, or will she have to kill her first human?_

True Loyalties

A dozen SAT soldiers now surrounded the lone silpelit, though none of them dared to venture within two meters of her.

"Identify yourself!" barked the SAT lieutenant. "Make any wrong move and we won't hesitate to fire!"

Nana struggled to keep herself calm. It wasn't because of the presence of the armed men. It was because of the fact that the situation looked oddly reminiscent of the past, especially of the incident on the bridge with Mariko. Nevertheless, she tried to stand her ground.

"My name is Nana", she firmly stated. "I am silpelit number seven".

The men recoiled and began to nervously mutter amongst themselves. Some of them were the survivors of the bridge incident. The lieutenant remained unfazed, however.

"Sir, she looks to be injured", said one of the SAT soldiers. "She has a bandage on her head".

The leader paid him no mind and continued on with what he was doing.

"We have orders to detain you and return you to the facility", the lieutenant informed. "If you refuse to comply, violent measures will be taken".

"Do you really think that you can defeat me?" Nana asked.

The lieutenant took a few steps forward and bashed Nana across the face with the stock of his submachine gun. She had offered no resistance, and immediately fell on the sand. The excruciating pain in her head shot through her. As for her attacker, he had already lost his composure.

"Yes", the lieutenant said. "I know what you're capable of. I know what every single damn one of you is capable of! I was the one who shot Lucy in the head on the night she escaped, and she still survived. If you're going to make the first move, you better do it now!"

"But I don't want to fight!" she cried. "I've tried to be a good girl and have been trying my best to live peacefully with other people!"

"Get back, sir!" one of the SAT soldiers warned. "Two meters!"

"Shut up!" yelled the lieutenant. "And as for you", he yelled at Nana. "You know too well that there's no place for your kind, except the facility!"

"That's not true!" Nana cried out. "We are capable of living together with other people!"

"And what proof do you have?" the lieutenant countered. "That research director, your so-called "papa", was foolish to nurture filth like you".

With that, he raised his submachine gun.

"It's just unnatural! He already had a biological daughter of your same species. Why the hell did he choose you over her!? I could never understand that bastard!"

"You…" Nana seethed.

Nana snapped. Her rage began to rise, although the pain in her head remained. She was aware of the fact that her injury would hamper her own ability to fight back, so she let her homicidal instincts take over.

"Nobody talks about Papa like that!" Nana screamed.

She immediately lashed a vector at one of the soldiers, grabbing him by the head and shaking him wildly in the air.

"AAAAAH! Help!" cried out the soldier.

"Open fire!" ordered the leader.

All of the soldiers hesitated and continued to murmur in fear.

"I said fire!"

Finally, the squadron complied with the already angry lieutenant and opened fire at the targeted silpelit. Bullets flew in every random direction, but not because they were randomly aimed.

Nana had used her other three vectors to shield herself from the gunfire. When the dust cleared, she stood completely unharmed. Her captive soldier was silenced with intense fear.

"Don't shoot, or he dies", Nana calmly threatened as she placed her hostage in front of her.

"Damn it", the lieutenant gritted his teeth.

He turned to his fellow SAT units for an answer to the dilemma, but they all cowered back in horror. None of them dared to say a word.

"Go back", Nana stated. "Tell whoever sent you that I will never return there. Ever. I have a life to live now".

Using her hostage as a shield, she began to retreat off the beachside towards a nearby alleyway.

The lieutenant could do nothing but watch in frustration. As far as he knew, another one of his men had reached the same bloody fates of other countless SAT units.

"Fine, let her go", he resigned. "Return to the facility".

Nana checked her watch: 8:30 P.M. She still used her vector to hold her hostage in place, although he didn't resist. He was already profusely sweating and whimpering in distress.

"Please!" the captive SAT unit pleaded with Nana. "I don't want to die! Are you the one from the bridge? Have mercy on me! Just please don't kill me!"

"I won't", Nana whispered into his ear. "My argument is not with you".

With that, she released her vector's hold on him.

"Go on and get out of here", she told the soldier. "I trust that you won't go out telling everyone about this".

The SAT unit nervously nodded and ran away.

Nana was greatly weakened. The stressful situation and the mental strength that she used to control her vectors had aggravated the pain in her head injury. She was feeling faint again.

"Papa…" she moaned before collapsing behind a dumpster.

For the last time that evening, she lost complete consciousness.

Meanwhile at the Kaede Inn… 

"After punching the lights out of that doctor, I made my escape through the window", Bando said. "Of all the most frightening combat experiences that I've survived, castration is the worst!"

The others began to laugh hysterically after he had finally topped off his "war story".

"Haha, nice", Kouta commented. "But if I may ask, how come you're not hunting down any more diclonii?"

"Kouta, my fighting days are over", Bando glumly answered. "The SAT withdrew my clearance ever since this so called "physical condition". Ha!"

With that, he showed them his mechanical right arm.

"Ooh, that's bad", Lucy added.

"Damn right, you ripped it off!" Bando interjected. "As for killing horn-headed freaks, I've given up. It's like trying to kill the inevitable, you know. I've been getting bored lately and the seaside life that I've made isn't really that good. I've been thinking about-"

"Hey", Yuka interrupted. "Doesn't anybody else notice that it's getting a bit drafty in here?"

Yuka was right. The air was beginning to feel cooler than usual. Not to mention, the thermostat didn't seem to be broken.

"Yeah", Mayu agreed. "Kouta-san, did you leave a window open?"

"No, I don't think so", Kouta answered. "I'll go around and check".

He proceeded to the kitchen, the bathhouse, and back to the dining room table.

"I looked around this area, but nothing seems to be left open", Kouta said.

"Check upstairs, then", Yuka suggested. "I don't want to spend unnecessary money on utilities".

Kouta went upstairs and looked around. Yet again, no window or outside crevice was left ajar.

"Where is that draft coming from?" he asked himself. "I've checked everywhere!"

Then he felt that the cool air was blowing from a certain direction.

"Maybe if I follow that wind", he thought.

Kouta tried to feel the direction of the faint breeze, and followed it to its source. In doing so he bumped into a door as he felt around. The draft was coming from inside Nana's room. He didn't want to disturb her sleep, so he opened the door as quietly as possible. To his surprise, Nana was gone! The window was left ajar, and the cool air poured into the room. Her only purple necktie hair ribbon lay on the floor.

Kouta immediately ran downstairs. He had no idea of why she'd run away. Nevertheless, he had to find Nana, again! If he didn't, she could be in grave danger. If she were to be in that grave danger, her injury would prevent her from defending herself. Without her ribbon, she risked discovery. Kouta didn't want to think about the last time she ran off unexpectedly and had that encounter with Mariko. He didn't even want to fathom anything more that could harm Nana.

"Where are you going?" Yuka asked after seeing him hurry.

"I forgot some books back at the university!" Kouta answered. "I'll be right back!"

"Hey wait!"

Yet again, Yuka was suspicious. Kouta was never that concerned about retrieving textbooks that he had forgotten. Usually, he'd try and persuade her to let him copy the assignment off her, not that she liked that. It sounded urgent though. Besides, it would be pointless to try and stop him.

"_Baka_", she muttered.

"Hey kid", Bando said.

"The name's Yuka", Yuka corrected.

"Mind if I use that computer there, provided it has the internet?" he asked. "It's been a while since I updated myself on some personal business".

Yuka gave him a nod, and he walked off.

Meanwhile, Kouta had already hopped in his car and accelerated away from the Kaede Inn. Although he knew the Kamakura area relatively well, he figured that he could cover more ground this way. That is, if he ever had to cross the entire Kanagawa Prefecture to find her. As little as he knew about her and her past, Nana was still a member of this family. He had to find her, fast.

"Where could she have gone?" he asked himself. "Why?"

Kouta figured that the beachside area would be a logical place to look. According to what Mayu told him in the past, Nana would sometimes stay behind at this beach after school. Even Mayu didn't know the reason why though.

Without further hesitation, Kouta steered down the hillside and arrived at the street parallel to the beachside.

"Nana!" he called out of the car window. "Nana! Damn it, where are you?"

He could hear no response, except for the distant lapping of the waves hitting the beach. The few people that stood on the sidewalk gave him a confused look.

Kouta paid them no mind and kept on driving. Not far from where he stopped though, he saw someone else that caught his attention.

A man was running down the street as if he had just seen a ghost. He seemed to be a soldier because of the body armor he was wearing. Something must have happened.

"Hey!" Kouta called out as he pulled up to him. "Excuse me!"

The SAT soldier saw Kouta, but kept running.

"What!?" asked the soldier, still running.

"I know this may sound ridiculous, but have you seen a girl with horns around here?"

"Yes I have!" the SAT unit said as he pointed to a nearby alleyway. "She's in that alleyway over there! Are you actually looking for her? You're nuts!"

The soldier picked up the pace and kept running. Kouta made a U-turn and drove towards the indicated alleyway. Something bad must have happened to her, but what?

Kouta hit the emergency flashers on the vehicle and got out.

"Nana!" he called out.

Yet again, there was no response. Kouta tried to look into the alleyway, but the night had dampened his vision and that meant that he had to venture further into the potentially dangerous darkness.

Quickly thinking, he dashed back to the car and grabbed a flashlight from the trunk before running back into the alleyway.

"Nana!" he yelled again. "Where are you?!"

The flashlight helped him see into the darkness, but Nana was still not in his view. Only scattered garbage covered the ground. A single dumpster lay at the end of the alleyway. Suddenly, Kouta began to hear distant shallow breathing echoing around him, but he couldn't pinpoint its location. His fear was beginning to rise.

"H-hello?" he stuttered.

He pointed the flashlight in random directions in an attempt to find the possible threat, but found nothing.

"I'm armed!" he growled as he grabbed a rusted metal pipe off the ground.

He listened closer to the breathing and heard it coming from the direction of a nearby dumpster. Kouta stepped forward hesitantly. He took a few more steps towards the container and raised the pipe in his left hand, ready to fight. But no one was inside. He motioned the flashlight towards the gap behind the dumpster, and to his horror, found Nana lying on her side.

"Nana!" he cried out.

Kouta dropped his makeshift weapon and ran to the fallen girl. He could only hope that it wasn't too late. Although he heard her heavy breathing, he pressed the left side of her neck to be sure. To Kouta's relief, she had a steady pulse. He had a lot of questions on his mind, but now was no time to ponder. He had to bring her back.

Back at the Kaede Inn… 

"Whoa, you guys have the Elfen Lied Fight Game!?" Bando exclaimed. "This game kicks ass!"

"Oh, it's Kouta's game", Yuka explained. "That's what caused the fight between Lucy and Nana".

"Yeah", Mayu agreed.

"Nyuu…" Nyuu sadly uttered.

It looked like Lucy had reverted back to Nyuu again.

"Aww come on!" Bando cheerily said. "That damn thing is in the past! Look at me! I don't have a real right arm and you don't see me complaining!"

"Hmmmm…I guess you're right", Mayu said.

"Besides, this thing has character updates!" he added. "Oh yeah, now they have Bando, Kouta, and Yuka! Not to mention, attack upgrades. Ooh yeah!"

Just then, the front door slid open, and Kouta carried the unconscious Nana inside. Everyone turned around to see who it was.

"Kouta!" Yuka said. "What happened to Nana!?"

"I don't know why, but it looked like she ran away", Kouta explained. "I'm still trying to find out a reason, but now's not the time to ask questions".

"But-", Mayu started.

"She just fell asleep behind a dumpster, that's all", he calmly added. "I'll find out more later in the morning, okay?"

The concerned Yuka and Mayu hesitantly agreed, and Kouta brought Nana back up to her room. She didn't stir anymore and her breathing became less heavy. Finally, Kouta tucked her in bed again and closed the door. He was relieved to see that he had managed to keep her safe, but had he also blown their cover? After seeing that panicked soldier, the possibilities looked grim. So many things had gone unanswered for Kouta, but he came to the conclusion that he could deal with it later. Tomorrow was a Sunday and nobody had classes to attend to. That would be the ideal time to start asking questions. For now, he was off to bed. Bando soon left the inn that evening, and the other three girls also hit the pillows…

Next morning… 

Nana woke up. The pain in her head was finally left, and the wound seemed to be healing just fine. But when she looked around, she was confused.

"I don't exactly remember where I was before", she recalled. "But it sure wasn't in my room".

Then Kouta entered the room.

"Nana, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked.

Then she remembered. Her eyes dilated in horror. He must have gone out and found her that night behind the dumpster. Just how much anger was he hiding behind that calm voice of his?

"Kouta-san!" Nana cried out as she gripped him in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry!"

She began to sob uncontrollably and buried her face in Kouta's shirt. Kouta wasn't angry though. He hugged her closer and tried to comfort her.

"Shhhhh", he whispered. "It's okay. Shhhhh, don't cry. I'm not angry with you. Shhhhh…"

Gradually, Nana's sobs dissipated and she looked back at Kouta. She didn't know how he managed to handle the situation with such calmness.

"I just want to know what's wrong", he asked. "Why did you run away?"

"Well", Nana started. "It's just that everyone says that the world has no place for our kind, that it's impossible for us to live along humans. And after seeing…seeing how I nearly killed Lucy…I was almost certain of that…"

She nearly lost her composure again until Kouta spoke again.

"Nana", he started. "I forgive you, Lucy forgives you, and everyone else forgives you. That's all in the past. Everybody makes mistakes and we have to try our best to learn from them, okay?"

"But-"

"And no matter what everyone else says, the world does have a place for you!" Kouta added. "Whether you are diclonius or human, there's a reason why you're here. There is no way that the 'diclonius species' is the end of humanity! I don't believe it! And there is no way that 'your kind' is of no other use than experimentation! You are part of our family, and if the worst comes to worst, we'll stand by you, no matter what!"

Nana was speechless for a few moments, and then she smiled before hugging Kouta again.

"_Arigato_, Kouta-san", she said. "Thank you. Thank you for giving me a second chance. But why are you willing to risk so much for me?"

Kouta looked at Nana with a sincere expression before giving his answer.

"Because it is where my true loyalties lie", he said.

Nana blushed, for she was rather surprised and flattered at Kouta's dedication for her own safety. He had become like "Papa" to her, and that was enough of a reason.

"Thank you", she thanked again.

Just then, playful banter began to permeate through the entire inn.

"What's going on?" Kouta asked.

"I don't know", Nana answered. "Let's check it out".

To Kouta's surprise, everyone was back on the Elfen Lied Fight Game, just like day one. Yuka and Mayu were already awake, and rooting for the player of their choice. Even Bando had returned to enjoy it, and he was paired up against Nyuu. Kouta and Nana moved in for a closer look.

"Go Nyuu!" Yuka cheered.

"No, go Bando!" Mayu yelled over Yuka.

"Nyuu!" Nyuu squealed as she hit the controls for a special attack.

"No!" Bando recoiled. "Not the BOOB GRAPPLE attack!" But wait, I'm immune to that! Who said that Bando had boobs? Aww yeah! Eat my six-pack fury, bitch!"

Immediately, he hit the attack button for the MECHANICAL ARM PUNCH attack. Nyuu's character fell, defeated.

"Haha, I win!" Bando exclaimed in victory.

"No!" Nyuu conceded. "Nyuu…"

"Come on!" Mayu encouraged. "Who's next?"

Kouta turn to Nana, and gave a competitive smile.

"You and me, let's go!" he challenged.

Nana smiled back, for she knew that it was all fun and games again.

"You're on, weakling!" she accepted with careful, yet complete confidence.

_Thus, ends the final installment of The Fight Game. Thanks to a thoughtful reviewer, I am already working on a follow-up fic for this one. And as stated since the first chapter, I will continue writing Elfen Lied fics, even after my current project is complete. R&R, and be on the lookout for the follow-up fic soon! _


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